Date:17/04/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/04/17/stories/2006041701921500.htm

International

Singapore poll soon: Premier

P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE: Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said "the moment" is right to seek the people's mandate, well ahead of the general election due only next year in the normal course.

Addressing the long-governing People's Action Party (PAP) in his capacity as its secretary general, Mr. Lee said the election "will be [held] soon."

Mr. Lee will be seeking a mandate for the first time as Prime Minister. Without indicating the date, he said his objective was to "mobilise" multi-racial Singapore "so that we can work together and be something special, not just three-and-a-half million people but one very shining red dot." The reference is to the tiny size of the City-State as its proud identification (ID) tag and the preferred national colour.

Releasing the party's manifesto and announcing the poll slogan of staying together and moving ahead, Mr. Lee said the PAP "has the support of the people."

Addressing the party's young leaders and activists, he said, "We need a capable government to be on top of all issues, to look over the horizon."

Noting that he had mobilised a new team, he assured his party, which has had an unchallenged reign at the helm, that "the vision" and a programme for the present times had also been chalked out.

With no sign of a credible Opposition party or group on the poll horizon, Mr. Lee is widely expected to lead the PAP to a handsome victory.

The snap poll may, therefore, help him assess how far he is able to capture the imagination of the younger generation, which is more exposed to global trends in economics and politics than the elderly Singaporeans.Some younger voters are beginning to be more vocal than the elders in raising issues about the direction that Singapore should take.